After a 20-year recording hiatus, the long-rumored return of popular ’90s R&B
group Jodeci is finally a reality. The Past, The Present, The Future features
co-production by Timbaland on two of its 12 tracks: “Incredible” and “Those
Things.” Comprised of members Cedric “K-Ci” Hailey, Joel “JoJo” Hailey, Dalvin
“Mr. Dalvin” DeGrate and Donald “DeVante Swing” DeGrate, Jodeci broke through in
1991 with the triple-platinum debut Forever My Lady. Over the next five years,
the group scored 10 top 10 R&B singles. Jodeci’s last album was 1995’s The Show,
The After Party, The Hotel.

Funk duo Tuxedo is a collaboration between Los Angeles-based
neo-soul singer/songwriter Mayer Hawthorne and Seattle-based hip-hop
producer Jake One. Influenced by classic disco-funk of acts of the
70s and early 80s like Chic, Shalamar, and Zapp, the two friends
began trading mixtapes as far back as 2006, though the Tuxedo
project wouldn’t officially surface for another six years. A
three-song EP based around the single “Do It” appeared seemingly out
of the blue in 2013, prompting immediate interest in the duo. While
juggling their individual projects with the growing body of Tuxedo
work, they finally delivered an LP’s worth of tunes in the form of
their self-titled debut, which was released by Stones Throw Records
in early 2015…

Before he moved west and became a retro-soul dreamboat, lovers of
roller skate disco and electro-funk in his hometown of Ann Arbor,
Michigan knew Mayer Hawthorne as DJ Haircut, and his mixtape “Shoot
the Duck, Vol. 1″ was a prized possession. The disco, post-disco,
and boogie tracks on that mix provide the inspiration for Tuxedo, a
band formed by Hawthorne and Jake One, a fellow lover of those sweet
sounds. The two had exchanged similarly smooth and funky disco
mixtapes in 2006, then years later decided to make their own
version. Unsurprisingly to anyone who’s heard Hawthorne’s
note-perfect take on 60s soul, the duo proves to be masterful at
re-creating the feel of the moment in the early 80s when disco began
to die out and was replaced by the funkier sounds of boogie and
electric funk. The duo conjures up visceral memories of the finest
artists of the era, from Atlantic Starr to Zapp, treating the source
material with care and making sure to never make jokes or come off
even a little bit ironic. From the drum machines to the synth
settings, everything is just right.

The songs, too, are like lost nuggets of the era; “Lost Lover” is
pure Gap Band swagger, “The Right Time” sounds like Billy Ocean
getting AM radio funky, and “Two Wrongs” is a lovely quiet storm
ballad with a perfect guitar solo. A few could have even been hits
back then, and in 2015’s post-“Get Lucky” landscape, too. The
finger-popping “Do It” and “The Right Time” fit that bill. From
beginning to end, the album is a happily reverent trip back to a
time that’s too often ignored by both disco and funk fans.
Hawthorne’s vocals are the only downside to the album. As on his
soul albums, they are perfectly fine, smoother than silk and
delivered with all the panache he can muster. One can’t help but
wish that someone with a little more grit or fire was behind the
mike, though; it might help the songs stick their landing just a
little more. That being said, the vocals aren’t a huge problem and
they certainly don’t distract from how much fun the album is. Maybe
next time they get together Hawthorne and Jake One can park their
talents behind the board, while Charlie Wilson or Steve Arrington
set up behind the mike. Until then, “Tuxedo” is a fine display of
the duo’s love for the electric funk disco sound, and their immense
skill at re-creating it.Code:
▀▀████████████▄▄▄▄ ▀
::t r a c k l i s t ::: ▀██████▀▀
::: . ▀▀

American Beauty/American Psycho will be released on January 20, 2015 on
Island Records & DCD2 Records. It is the follow-up album to the band s
gold-certified fifth studio album Save Rock and Roll, which debuted at #1 on
the Billboard Top 200 and #1 on iTunes in 27 countries upon its April 2012
release.